Calcutta High Court
South Eastern Coal Fields Limited And ... vs Intech Safety Private Limited And Ors on 7 February, 2025
Author: Hiranmay Bhattacharyya
Bench: T.S Sivagnanam, Hiranmay Bhattacharyya
OD-7
IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
ORIGINAL SIDE
APOT/6/2025
IA NO: GA/1/2025, GA/2/2025
SOUTH EASTERN COAL FIELDS LIMITED AND ORS
VS
INTECH SAFETY PRIVATE LIMITED AND ORS.
BEFORE :
THE HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE T.S SIVAGNANAM
-A N D-
HON'BLE JUSTICE HIRANMAY BHATTACHARYYA
DATE : 7th February 2025.
Appearance :
Mr. S. Roychowdhury, Adv.
Mr. Soumen Bhattacharjee, Adv.
...for U.O.I.
Mr. Amritam Mondal, Adv.
Mrs. Swati Agarwal, Adv.
Ms.Shipra Naskar, Adv.
...for respondents 1 to 6
Mr. Avishek Guha, Adv.
Ms. Shilpa Das, Adv.
...for respondent 4 (ICICI Bank)
The Court :- This intra-Court appeal by the respondent in the writ
petition is filed against an interim order passed by the learned Single Bench in
WPO 594 of 2024. As could be seen from the first order dated 9.7.2024 passed
by the learned Single Bench the appellant herein, was the respondent in the
writ petition namely the tendering authority despite issuance of repeated
notices and communication did not appear before the Court nor the bank was
present and the Court took into consideration the facts and circumstances and
having been prima facie satisfied granted an order of stay for a limited period of
invocation of the bank guarantee. Subsequently the appellant has filed an
2
application for vacating the interim order which was considered by the learned
Single Bench and the interim order and the said application were rejected.
Aggrieved by the same the appellant is before us.
We are clear in our mind about the legal position that Court should
refrain from granting an order of injunction of stay from invocation of a bank
guarantee. However, this rule which has developed through various judicial
decisions has certain exceptions. One such exception which we can point out is
when there is an allegation of fraud.
According to the appellant, the writ petitioner had produced a certificate
of prior experience to enable them to participate in the tender invited by the
appellant. According to the appellant the said experience certificate is a
fraudulent document and in this regard they seek to rely upon certain
communication sent by Eastern Coalfields Limited. The learned Single Bench
took note of the facts and circumstances of the case which were placed for the
first time before the Court in the application for vacating the interim order and
opined that the allegation of producing false or fabricated or fraudulent
documents need to be examined. One more matter which needs to be taken
note of is that the writ petitioner was not informed that the reason for
returning the bank guarantee despite the writ petitioner being unsuccessful
bidder was on account of the allegation that the experience certificate is a
fraudulent document.
Learned Advocate for the appellant would submit that as per the terms
and conditions of the Bid Document if it is found by the tendering authority
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that the information furnished by the tenderer is false or any fraudulent
document has been produced they have got a right of forfeiture of the amount
furnished by the tenderer which is given in the format of a bank guarantee.
Thus several issues need to be adjudicated more particularly when there is an
allegation of fraud. Therefore, we are of the view that the learned Single Bench
was justified in granting an interim order.
One more issue which we need to point out is that the bank guarantee
which was given by the respondent/writ petitioner had lapsed on 12 July 2024.
Thus we find no grounds to interfere with the impugned order.
Accordingly, the appeal fails and dismissed and the appellant is directed
to file their affidavit in opposition within three weeks from date, reply, if any,
within a week thereafter after which, the appellant is granted liberty to mention
before the learned Single Bench for taking up of the matter at an early date.
.
(T.S. SIVAGNANAM) CHIEF JUSTICE (HIRANMAY BHATTACHARYYA, J.) pkd/GH.